The independent hotelier’s guide to boosting OTA visibility during low season

They attract international guests and put your property in front of people who might never discover you otherwise. However, they also charge commission and can feel like yet another system you have to keep on top of, one that doesn’t always give you the visibility you need when business slows down.

Still, OTAs remain one of the most powerful marketing tools available to independent properties. The question isn’t whether OTAs are worth it, but how to make them work for you without becoming over-reliant or adding another task to your busy day. Understanding how OTA visibility really works helps you leverage these platforms strategically.

What are Online Travel Agencies and why do they matter?

Online Travel Agencies – commonly known as OTAs – are websites that allow travelers to search, compare and book travel-related products like accommodations. Booking.com, Expedia and Agoda are among the most well-known booking platforms, but hundreds exist globally.

These platforms act as large online marketplaces, where travelers can easily filter on price range, amenities, location and reviews, and compare options all in one place. For independent hoteliers, OTAs provide exposure that would be nearly impossible to achieve alone.

When a guest books through an OTA, the platform takes a commission on the reservation. In return, your property gains visibility, access to new audiences and a booking process you don’t need to handle yourself. This is why even hotels with strong direct channels continue to appear on OTAs: the reach is simply too valuable to give up, especially during quieter periods.

Why is strong OTA visibility crucial for hotels?

Simply being ‘present’ on a booking site isn’t enough. Your listing still needs to be found by potential guests in order to drive bookings, so strong visibility on these platforms is key.

The order in which properties appear in the OTA search results greatly influences booking decisions. Travelers tend to choose a property from the top search results, as those are usually expected to be the most relevant and best rated.

Many never even scroll beyond the first page. Knowing this, OTAs reserve the most prominent positions for listings with a high conversion rate and low risk of cancellation. These top spots also contain paid placements known as ‘sponsored listings’ – another reliable source of income for the platform.

For independent hoteliers, being visible to the right guest at the right moment can mean the difference between a slow day and a fully booked one. However, gaining more visibility isn’t always straightforward, especially when resources are limited.

What are sponsored OTA listings and how can they benefit your hotel?

Sponsored listings are paid placements on major OTAs to make your property appear more prominently in the search results. They’re usually marked as “Sponsored” or “Ad”, and appear in the most viewed positions on the page. These are slots that OTAs know generate clicks and bookings. The goal for hotels is to buy better placement for specific dates and audiences where extra visibility will pay off.

Promoting your listing helps your property stand out when demand is soft, competition is high or your listing needs an extra boost. They are particularly useful for independent hotels that:

• Face harsh competition from nearby hotels or short-term rentals

• Experience slow midweek dates or seasonal dips

• Need more exposure after opening or rebranding

What makes a good sponsored OTA listing?

A well-performing sponsored listing begins with strong imagery. Seasonally relevant photos tend to outperform generic ones, a sunny pool in summer, a cozy room in winter, a blossoming terrace in spring. The accompanying message should highlight what makes your property appealing, expressed in enticing, clear language that travelers can grasp at a glance.

A few simple elements influence how well your listing performs:

• Strong photography: Seasonal, relevant photos generally convert better. For example, a sunny terrace in summer or a warm interior in winter.

• Clear, concise messaging: Short statements that highlight your key strengths are far more effective than generic descriptions.

• Thoughtful timing: Sponsored listings work best when implemented temporarily, tied to specific periods of weak demand, not as an always-on strategy.

Sponsored OTA listings are only successful when they’re well thought out. The timing and content have to be right, results-oriented and supported by data. When used with intention, sponsored listings can deliver strong results. When used without a plan, they can quickly become expensive.

Keep these three pitfalls in mind:

• Sponsored listings don’t fit every situation. If your occupancy is already high, if competition drives click costs beyond what your ADR can support, or if previous efforts have shown consistently weak returns, it’s better to avoid paying for visibility.

• Spending more doesn’t guarantee better results. What matters is whether your investment leads to bookings. If the return on ad spend is low, it’s often better to pause and re-evaluate.

• The goal is not maximum exposure at all times, it’s strategic additional exposure when your hotel really needs those extra bookings.

Better results with less effort: Boost OTA visibility automatically

Boosting your OTA listings effectively means making well-timed, data-driven decisions. You need to know exactly when demand dips, when your listing risks being overlooked and when greater visibility could help you secure more bookings at profitable rates.

You also need to manage budgets and review performance. For small teams already stretched thin, this can feel overwhelming, especially without any guarantee it'll pay off. While large hotels often have revenue or marketing staff to support this, independent hoteliers rarely do.

Independent hoteliers don’t always have the time or insights to know when boosting visibility on OTAs will truly pay off. As a result, many small properties risk overspending, underusing sponsored listings or running them at the wrong time.

That’s why Lighthouse’s platform for independent hotels now offers Visibility Booster, a new feature that’s part of our automated pricing and distribution tool. It recommends the right moments to sponsor your OTA listings – directly from your pricing calendar.

This smart feature takes the guesswork out of sponsored OTA listings entirely and saves you heaps of time. You don’t need to monitor dozens of factors manually to make decisions – the system does it for you.

How our automated Visibility Booster works

In a nutshell, Lighthouse’s Visibility Booster signals when it’s smart to promote your listing on major OTAs to optimize your bottom line. It also recommends the ideal amount of commission uplift for that period. There are three simple steps:

1. When the system detects low occupancy, soft demand and already-competitive pricing, a “Boost visibility” button appears on the specific dates where increased exposure on OTAs is beneficial for your property.

2. When clicking this button, you can see why this specific recommendation was made.

3. Then, you can go directly to the OTA extranet of your choice (Booking.com, Expedia or Agoda), allowing you to quickly set up your campaigns.

The tool is there to guide your decision-making, but you control what to activate when, on which channel, and at what cost.

What’s happening behind the scenes? Lighthouse analyzes your occupancy, competitor prices and the level of forecasted demand. The suggestion pops up when paying a slightly higher OTA commission is more profitable than leaving rooms empty, using the same strategic reasoning as an experienced revenue manager.

If market demand rises or it’s better to adjust your room prices for that day, the “Boost visibility” button disappears on its own and the calendar only shows the recommended rate.

How Visibility Booster benefits your hotel:

• Take quick action when occupancy is low, before it impacts your profitability

• Appear higher in OTA search results on the dates that truly matter

• Reach more potential guests without heavy discounting

• Save time by managing everything directly from your pricing calendar

• Stay flexible: use OTAs when you need them, prioritize direct bookings when you can

Visibility Booster is not about encouraging heavier reliance on OTAs. It’s designed to make strategic OTA marketing accessible, allowing you to compete better and win guests for your hotel. As part of Lighthouse’s platform, it supports a balanced distribution strategy where every channel contributes in a way that’s profitable. Strong demand days naturally favor direct and lower-commission channels, whereas quieter days benefit from the higher exposure global OTAs can provide.

It’s only one of the many features we offer to help you optimize each channel at the right time, without guesswork or extra workload.

Always the right price and channel with one easy-to-use tool

Better OTA visibility is just one piece of your revenue puzzle. Lighthouse for independents offers the automation you need to optimize room prices, restrictions, channel mix and direct bookings in one platform, all powered by the best data in the industry:

• Adjust your prices dynamically based on occupancy, demand and competitors

• Keep your prices and availability synchronized effortlessly across all your channels

• Get recommendations for minimum length of stay restrictions to maximize revenue

• Automatically prioritize direct bookings when demand is strong to limit commission costs

• Manage your channel mix dynamically for optimal results

By combining pricing intelligence, automated distribution and now targeted marketing recommendations in one platform, Lighthouse helps independent hoteliers secure more of the right bookings throughout the year, even when demand is low.

Final thoughts: A balanced distribution strategy

When used selectively based on the right data, sponsored listings can be one of the easiest ways to fill rooms without resorting to heavy discounting which can undermine your perceived value. There are clear periods when an extra push on OTAs can make a meaningful difference.

Quiet weekdays, low season, sudden cancellations or shorter booking windows all benefit from improved visibility. Even healthy-performing hotels sometimes need to build base occupancy before relying on higher-rate, last-minute bookings.

OTAs should never replace your direct bookings, but they have an important role to play in your distribution strategy: extending your reach when demand is weak, strengthening your presence against short-term rentals and complementing your direct booking efforts throughout the year.

A strong distribution mix balances these third-party channels rather than relying on one. The better you understand how OTAs work and how visibility influences your performance, the easier it becomes to use them effectively without overspending or leaving costly occupancy gaps.

Ready to fill more rooms in low season – without the guesswork? Start your free trial below and see Visibility Booster in action.